Pakistan puts CPEC in cold storage due to influence from West

[Aspen]

Why are you such an Iranian shill? Do you know how bad it's gotten in Iran? I have a distant khala in Iran, her sons have moved to Muscat and her daughters and damaads have moved to Dubai. The state of their economy has suffered badly due to their crazy terror funding agenda and subsequent sanctions.

If you want to follow someone, follow Turkey or Malaysia/Indonesia.

What you want me to do, keep following failed Saudi example?

Pakistan does not have advantage of Turkey's EU trade agreement

 

[El Sidd]

Exactly let’s talk facts and numbers. Again, which CPEC project has been cancelled?

Do you know the technical definition of a stall?

No one said it is in reverse thrust or abandoned ship.

It is stalled.

Due western influence.

How hard is that to get? Do you want China to say it? That can be arranged if you are curious enough

 

[Bilal.]

Expand on this? How do you want to grow organically?

Keep in mind, our exports are low and imports are high (so no income from there). Tax system was not working for years, and that meant we were spending more then actually collecting. And finally because of the two above, we have been taking loans just to stay afloat for years. Loans that have a interest rate for over 10%.

No tell me, how are we to grow organically without any money?

We are going on tangent. The thread was started by the same person and in the first half it was being argued by the same person that we are not progressing fast enough on CPEC. And now like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde moment we are arguing with him that CPEC is good or bad...

Before any sane discussion our friend needs to explain why he switched stance and that too so drastically.

 

[Cliftonite]

What you want me to do, keep following failed Saudi example?

Pakistan does not have advantage of Turkey's EU trade agreement

Pakistan does not have to follow the example of failed state Iran where 50000 rial notes exist because of hyper inflation. They don't even have proper items in grocery stores because of sanctions.

We are going on tangent. The thread was started by the same person and in the first half it was being argued by the same person that we are not progressing fast enough on CPEC. And now like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde moment we are arguing with him that CPEC is good or bad...

He is just an Iranian shill.

 

[Bilal.]

Do you know the technical definition of a stall?

No one said it is in reverse thrust or abandoned ship.

It is stalled.

Due western influence.

How hard is that to get? Do you want China to say it? That can be arranged if you are curious enough

Example please. Concrete project example.

 

[El Sidd]

Example please. Concrete project example.

The economy is expected to grow by 2 percent.

 

[Bilal.]

The economy is expected to grow by 2 percent.

Name the project please.

 

[In arduis fidelis]

Its easy to say CPEC projects are in cold storage when just have to let out brain farts to sell your sh*tty paper rather then actually standing on ground in sweltering heat and provide security to those projects going on at blazing speeds.

 

[zhxy]

I am of the opinion that it would have been better if Pakistan focused on educating people first so that economy could grow and fund infrastructure investment organically without taking loans from China. Some people have said that China loans are small fraction of Pakistan's overall debt so I am not overly concerned about it.

If they want to do CPEC, fine. They will pay the price for those loans, especially given the fragile state of our economy and IMF conditions. But their progress has been very lukewarm and in my opinion too slow. Gwadar has languished for almost a decade without any meaningful increase in demand from China. This could either be cold feet from China or an indifferent attitude from Pakistan.

You're right

At present, Pakistan and China have good relations. But if the two sides go in the wrong direction, Pakistan may become a second Albania. And in the future many years later, looking back, Pakistan and China will blame each other.

Lending money to a friend is not a good idea, sometimes it can ruin the relationship between the two

 

[Aspen]

Expand on this? How do you want to grow organically?

Keep in mind, our exports are low and imports are high (so no income from there). Tax system was not working for years, and that meant we were spending more then actually collecting. And finally because of the two above, we have been taking loans just to stay afloat for years. Loans that have a interest rate for over 10%.

No tell me, how are we to grow organically without any money?

Grow organically by increasing education of your population. Gov't should go on a hiring spree and offer Pakistanis a globally competitive salary to do research for gov't so all the educated people stop leaving the country. When educated people who can afford to pay tax stay in Pakistan, economy will grow organically. Use these educated people to increase research of new technologies and set up base for manufacturing and industrial economy. Educated people will engineer and export manufactured industrial equipment and kickstart Pakistan's export economy. Organic economic growth from exports along with stronger tax system will fund new technologies and infrastructure.

 

[El Sidd]

Name the project please.

why do you think the Supreme Court is whining about Railway projects and infrastructure of airports etc etc etc.

 

[Bilal.]

why do you think the Supreme Court is whining about Railway projects and infrastructure of airports etc etc etc.

It’s all subjective discussion. Let’s put objectivity to it and provide a list of projects put in cold storage.

 

[El Sidd]

It’s all subjective discussion. Let’s put objectivity to it and provide a list of projects put in cold storage.

If you insist i will cede you the thread.

I have no interest in forensic audits of government procured spreadsheets.

Jai Imran Jai

 

[Bilal.]

If you insist i will cede you the thread.

I have no interest in forensic audits of government procured spreadsheets.

Jai Imran Jai

Thank you. Very gracious of you.

 

[Patriot forever]

KARACHI: Well-known economist Dr Kasier Bengali has said that Pakistan’s economic policies are being made in Washington and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sent its people to sit in major institutions, which is why there is no mention of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the budget 2020-21.

Speaking during a webinar organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) on Sunday, he said due to the influence from the West the government had placed CPEC in cold storage. “Pakistan’s economy is mainly relying on foreign loans, so the economic managers are trying to appease the IMF and other international lenders by not mentioning the CPEC,” he said.

“The budget 2020-21 is a traditional budget, which has no focus on changing economic priorities,” he remarked.

He said many industries in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy were feared to be closed down due to the economic crisis arising after the coronavirus pandemic, which may render millions of employees jobless.

Dr Bengali, who has himself remained the economic advisor to various governments in the past, said that no relief was provided to the working class in the budget 2020-21.

“In fact the budget 2020-21 is an attempt to extract maximum tax revenue from the pockets of the common people as the government has made the budget on instruction from the IMF,” he remarked.

According to him, the federal government is going to increase prices of utilities in September or October as the prices of electricity and gas have not been increased in the budget.

Dr Bengali pointed out that despite the economic crisis, the government has not reduced its non-development budget and funds for running government departments.

“The government has shifted the blame on Covid-19 for all ills of the economy, but before the pandemic the economy was already on the ventilator,” he said.

He said that Pakistan’s economy is being run on foreign as well as domestic loans and no measure has been provided to reduce the burden of loans.

“All economic targets for the budget 2020-21 are fixed ambitiously as the government had miserably failed to achieve any major targets fixed during the current fiscal year [2019-20],” he said, adding that the Federal Board of Revenue was lagging behind in its tax collection targets.

According to Dr Bengali, mafias are running the economy and industries in Pakistan. “For example, the sugar mafia has been receiving subsidies for many years, which is made legal, flour mills are receiving wheat on discounted rates but they sell flour at exorbitant rates and paper manufacturing industries have monopoly which is affecting the local publishing industry.”

He said once the prices are increased in Pakistan they don’t come down. The mafias create artificial shortage of supply, which further increases the prices. When the government reduced the prices of petroleum products, the cartel of petroleum companies has created artificial shortage of petroleum products all over the country, he said.

“Sindh and Balochistan are producing gas but they are not receiving the proportion of the subsidies. Punjab is consuming 60 per cent of fertilizer, whereas Sindh is using only 20 per cent and Balochistan only four per cent. Punjab is enjoying a major share in subsidies at the cost of Balochistan,” he remarked.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1563576/cpec-placed-in-cold-storage-due-to-influence-from-west

On the other hand in the real world, China and Pakistan are finalizing ML1 now. The largest strategic program under

If you open this link, it gives all the details. All the progress of each project, what stage it is at, project completion date, etc

http://cpec.gov.pk/

They even made it easy to navigate by categories the project (infrastructure, power, etc)

Its mostly the perception developed due to lack of fanfare around cpec projects and propagated by a selection of media due to political bias and Indian influence. During previous government we were used to seeing advertisements every 5 mins or so. The media was happy (a form of bribe) and the gullible were jumping.
Now what we see are strategic projects are given proper attention, ML1, hydro power, transmission etc. Instead of projects such as quaid-e-azam solar or imported coal and gas projects which in reality were a noose around our neck, while ignoring thar to the extent of cutting its funding and rolling it back (understandable as kickbacks were minimal).